Well-drilling drawworks



March 6, 1951 c. J. KEIM ETAL 2,544,327

' WELL DRILLING DRAWWORKS Filed May 24, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 hwentars:0/4945? .1 K flM and 41/61/57 E. Mn/se,

zmw Q Ada March 6, 1951 c. J. KEIM ET AL 2,544,327

' WELL DRILLING vmwwoaxs 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 24, 1946 0 J5 6M} W70 g u zn oa Patented Mar. 6, 1951 r NlTED STATES PATENT OFFICEWELL-DRILLING DRAWWORKS Application May 24, 1946, Serial No. 671,958

This invention relates to improvements in heavy-duty drawworks fordrilling oil wells and the like.

In designing an oilfield drawworks or hoist for heavy-duty drilling andSuitable for internal combustion drive, one of the main problems is tocombine the various shafts, drives and transmission required forobtaining a satisfactory range of speeds and power into a unitsufiiciently compact to be readily movable.

In order to comply with state regulations these units must not exceed 10feet in width if they are to be readily transportable over the highways.This width is further restricted in some localities to a maximum of 8feet. Heretofore, in order to comply with the 8 foot width, it has beennecessary to break the units up into several sub-assemblies. In sodoing, many of the multi-strand roller chain drives, gears and otheroperating parts which ordinarily run in oil bath enclosures were exposedto dirt and moisture. Also the disassembly and reassembly requiredconsiderable time and there was always the possibility of misaligningshafts and sprockets when reassembling the unit.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide areadily portable compact heavy-duty drawworks.

It is a further object to provide a heavy-duty drawworks which can bereadily reduced to a maximum of 8 feet in Width.

It is another object to provide a heavy-duty drawworks which can bereduced to 8 feet in width without exposing any of the working partsnormally enclosed in oil baths or the like.

It is still another object to provide a heavyduty drawworks which issimple in design and durable in operation.

The foregoing and further objects will be apparent from the followingspecification when read in conjunction with the attached drawings,wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan;

Figure 2 is a side elevation;

Figure 3 is an end elevation;

Figure 4 is a modification; and

Figure 5 is a pneumatic clutch.

The drawworks of our invention are mounted on a skid 2 and supported bya hoist frame 4 having end members 6.

The drawworks includes a drum shaft 8 rotatably supported in bearingsl0, l and carrying low-speed sprocket l2 and high-speed sprocket l4,mounted on hubs I and I8 and. connected to the shaft by automaticpneumatic clutches 11 Claims. (Cl. 74-217) and 22 of conventional type.A jaw clutch 24 is provided at the right hand end of shaft 8 to connectit with a hydromatic brake 26. A sprocket 28 is also provided on the hub16.

Disposed behind and somewhat below the drum shaft 8 are twolongitudinally spaced and preferably aligned stub jackshafts 30 and 32.Shaft 30, which is the low-speed jackshaft, is rotatably supported bytwo bearings 34 and 36, carried by the frame 4, and has a sprocket 38keyed thereto which is connected by a chain 40 to the sprocket 12 onshaft 8. At the inner end of the shaft 30, there is provided a flexiblecoupling or jaw clutch 42. The high-speed jackshaft 32 is mounted inbearings 44 and 46 carried by the frame t. At the outer end of theshaft, there is a sprocket 50 operated by an automatic pneumatic clutch48. The sprocket 50 is connected by a chain 52 to a sprocket 54 onrotary shaft 56, mounted on bearings 58 and 60 The rotary shaft 56 isconnected to the rotary by a sprocket 62 and chain 64. The rotary shaftis in front of and slightly below the drum shaft 8 and is also slightlybelow the jackshafts. A sprocket B6 is keyed to the inner end of thehigh-speed jackshaft 32 which is connected to the sprocket M of the drumshaft 8 by a chain 68. At the inner end of the jackshaft 32, there isprovided a flexible coupling or jaw clutch I0.

Mounted between the flexible couplings or jaw clutches 42 and I0, is aunitary removable transmission unit 12. This provides three forwardspeed changes and a reverse by reason of suitable sprockets M, gears 16,jaw clutches l8, driving shaft I1 and driven shaft 19. This transmissionis contained in a fully enclosed housing separate from the drawworkshousing and may be removed therefrom by releasing the flexible couplingsor clutches 42 and 10 from the shaft 19. Since the drawworks iscontained in a separate housing, the removal of the transmission unit'12 will not expose any of the wearing parts or gears normally venclosed in oil baths or the like to dust or rain.

The transmission 12 is connected to the prime movers (not shown) by achain and sprocket 82. As shown in Figure 4, the transmission unit maybe removed and the jackshafts 30 and 32 connected by a shaft 84, whichmay be connected to steam or electric prime movers by chains 86 and jawclutches 88.

Mounted above the jackshafts 30 and 32, and the drum shaft 8, is a lineshaft 90 supported on bearings 92 and 94. The line shaft is disposedrearwardly of the drum shaft and slightly forwardly of the jackshafts.If desired, a sand reel 96 in addition to catheads 98 and I may bemounted on the line shaft. The line shaft has a sprocket I04 keyedthereto which is connected by a chain I02 to the sprocket 28 on the hubl6 rotatably mounted on the drum shaft 8. The sand reel 96 is operatedby a clutch I22 and the cathead 98 by a clutch I20.

As shown in Figure 5, the automatic pneumatic clutches are composed ofinner and outer flanges I06, I08, one of which carries a pneumaticmember M0 for pressing shoes I I2 in engagement with a drum on the othermember. In case of failure of the air pressure supply, the webs of thetwo flanges can be locked together by a pin 4 so that drillingoperations may still be carried on.

From the foregoing, it is seen that we have provided in one compactframe, rigidly supported, a drum shaft, high and low-speed jackshafts, aline shaft, and a rotary shaft, all interconnected by suitable drives.The jackshafts are suitably connected to a self-contained multi-speedtransmission which may be removed to reduce the width of the unit or todirectly interconnect the jackshafts, if it is desired to use a steam orelectrical prime mover. In this arrangement, the drum shaft is drivenselectively by the high or low-speed jackshafts. Likewise, the rotaryshaft is driven selectively from the high-speed jackshaft. The lineshaft is driven from the lowspeed jackshaft independently of the driveshaft through the hub carrying the drum shaft sprocket connected to thelow-speed jackshaft. Moreover, this arrangement permits the use of shorttwo-bearing jackshafts thereby avoiding excessive deflection since thebearings are widely spread and maintaining good alignment of all partswhich is essential for long, trouble-free performance. The use of shortjackshafts permit chain drive take-ofls from the outer ends. Thispermits the jackshaft bearings to be located in a cartridge-type housingso that the bearings and housings can be assembled prior to mounting inposition. In the present design, the rotary is driven from thehigh-speed jackshaft. No takeoff is shown on the low-speed jaekshaftbut, if desired, a take-off may be installed thereon for auxiliaryequipment. It should also be noted that all load carrying bearings aresupported by the same rigid frame, assuring proper alignment of allparts. As before stated, the removal of the transmission does not exposeany of the working parts to the atmosphere. The high and low-speedjackshafts and the three speed transmission provide a total of sixforward speeds and two reverse for the drum shaft.

While we have shown and described several specific embodiments of ourinvention, it will be understood that these embodiments are merely forthe purpose of illustration and description and that various other formsmay be devised within the scope of our invention, as defined in theappended claims.

We claim:

1. A drawworks comprising a drum shaft, a line shaft, a rotary shaft, apair of spaced longitudinally aligned jackshafts, a multi-speedtransmission disposed between said jackshafts, said transmission havinga driven shaft, said driven shaft being disposed in alignment with saidjackshafts, means for connecting the driven shaft of said transmissionto said jackshafts, means whereby said jackshafts may selectively drivesaid drum shaft, means on one of said jackshafts for driving said rotaryshaft and means whereby the other of said jackshafts may drive said lineshaft.

2. A drawworks comprising a drum shaft, a line shaft, a rotary shaft, apair of spaced longitudinally aligned jackshafts, a removable multispeedtransmission disposed between said jackshafts, said transmission havinga driven shaft, said driven shaft being disposed in alignment with saidjackshafts, means for connecting the driven shaft of said transmissionto said jackshafts, means whereby said jackshafts may selectively drivesaid drum shaft, means on one of said jackshafts for driving said rotaryshaft and means whereby the other of said jackshafts may drive said lineshaft.

3. Drawworks comprising a drum shaft, a line shaft, a rotary shaft, apair of longitudinally spaced jackshafts and means for driving saidjackshafts, a chain driving connection between one of said jackshaftsand said rotary shaft, a clutch on said jackshaft for operating saidchain driving connection, chain drives between each of said jackshaftsand said drum shaft, a pair of clutches on said drum shaft forestablishing a driving connection between said chain drives and saiddrum shaft and means for driving said line shaft from one of saidjackshafts.

4. Drawworks comprising a drum shaft, a line shaft, a rotary shaft, apair of longitudinally spaced jackshafts and means for driving saidjackshafts, a chain driving connection between one of said jackshaftsand said rotary shaft, an automatic pneumatic clutch on said jackshaftfor operating said chain driving connection, chain drives between eachof said jackshafts and said drum shaft, a pair of automatic pneumaticclutches on said drum shaft for establishing a driving connectionbetween said chain drives and said drum shaft and means for driving saidline shaft from one of said jackshafts.

5. Drawworks comprising a drum shaft, a line shaft, a rotary shaft, apair of spaced longitudinally aligned jackshafts and means for drivingsaid jackshafts, a chain driving connection between one of saidjackshafts and said rotary shaft, an automatic pneumatic clutch on saidjackshaft for operating said chain driving connection, chain drivesbetween each of said jackshafts and said drum shaft, a pair of automaticpneumatic clutches on said drum shaft for establishing a drivingconnection between said chain drives and said drum shaft, means fordriving said line shaft from one of said jackshafts and means forpositively locking said pneumatic clutches.

6. Drawworks comprising a drum shaft, a line shaft, a rotary shaft, apair of longitudinally spaced jackshafts mounted on a unitary frameworkand a unitary removable transmission constructed and arranged to drivesaid jackshafts, chain drives between each of said jackshafts and saiddrum shaft, a pair of automatic pneumatic clutches on said drum shaftfor selectively connecting said chain drives to said drum shaft, a chaindrive between one of said jackshafts and said rotary shaft, and anautomatic pneumatic clutch for operating said chain drive and drivemeans between the other of said jackshafts and said line shaft.

7. Drawworks comprising a drum shaft, a line shaft, a rotary shaft, apair of spaced longitudinally aligned jackshafts mounted on a unitaryframework and a unitary removable transmission constructed and arrangedto drive said jackshafts, chain drives between each of said jackshaftsand said drum shaft, a pair of automatic pneumatic clutches on said drumshaft for selectively connecting said chain drives to said drum shaft, achain drive between one of said jackshafts and said rotary shaft, and anautomatic pneumatic clutch for operating said chain drive, drive meansbetween the other of said jackshafts and said line shaft, and means forpositively locking said pneumatic clutches.

8. Drawworks comprising a housing, a drum shaft, a pair oflongitudinally spaced jackshafts adjacent one side of said housing, eachof said shafts being disposed inside of said housing and a multi-speedtransmission dispdsed between said jackshafts and extending outwardlybeyond said housing, said transmission having a driven shaft,

said driven shaft being disposed between said jackshafts and detachablyconnected thereto whereby said transmission can be readily removed fromsaid drawworks to materialy reduce the width thereof, and driving meansbetween said jackshafts and said drum shaft.

9. Drawworks comprising a housing, a line shaft, a drum shaft, a rotaryshaft, a pair of spaced longitudinally aligned jackshafts adjacent oneside of said housing, all of said shafts being disposed inside of saidhousing and a unitary multi-speed transmission disposed between saidjackshafts and extending outwardly from said housing, said transmissionhaving a driven shaft,

said driven shaft being disposed in alignment with said jackshafts,means detachably connecting said driven shaft to said jackshafts wherebysaid unitary transmission can be readily removed from said drawworks tomaterially reduce the width thereof, a chain driving connection betweenone of said jackshafts and said rotary shaft, a clutch for operatingsaid chain driving connection, a chain drive between each of saidjackshafts and said drum shaft, 8. pair of clutches on said drum shaftfor estabfishing a driving connection between said chain drives and saiddrum shaft, and means for driving said line shaft from one of saidjackshafts.

10. Drawworks comprising a drum shaft, a line shaft, a rotary shaft, apair of longitudinally spaced jackshafts, a multi-speed transmissiondisposed between said jackshafts, said transmission having a drivenshaft, means connecting the driven shaft of said transmission to saidjackshafts, means whereby said jackshafts may selectively drive saiddrum shaft means on one of said jackshafts for driving said rotary shaftand means whereby the other of said jackshafts may drive said lineshaft.

11. Drawworks comprising a drum shaft, a line shaft, a rotary shaft, apair of longitudinally spaced jackshafts and means for driving saidjackshafts, a chain driving connection between one of said jackshaftsand said rotary shaft, a clutch on said jackshaft for operating saidchain driving connection, chain drives between each of said jackshaftsand said drum shaft, a pair of clutches on said drum shaft forestablishing a driving connection between said chain drives and saiddrum shaft and a chain drive between said drum shaft and said line shaftfor driving said line shaft.

CHARLES J. KEIM. AUGUST R. MAIER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 7 Name Date 1,953,339 Davidson Apr. 3, 19341,962,346 Hild June 12, 1934 2,282,634 Yound May 12, 1942 2,306,418Wilson Dec. 29, 1942 2,316,131 Cardweli Apr. 6, 1943 2,354,235 WaltonJuly-25, 1944

